DeMar DeRozan had a tough go last season. Didn’t we all? The 2024-25 campaign was a disappointing mess that perpetuated the very real reputation of an unserious franchise that dates back decades in Sacramento.
The future hall of famer found himself smack dab in the middle of it – an in-season coaching change, a midseason franchise player trade and a losing season that ended in a home court blowout loss in the participation trophy that is the Play-In tournament.
DeRozan didn’t hold back Monday at media day when describing what it was like to be part of that:
“There was just a lot of shit that was going on that internally we tried to fight through as players, and I can only imagine from a coaching staff. With so much change from the front office, ya’ll know, there was a lot going on,” DeRozan told reporters. “It’s not nobody’s fault, we all have issues internally with our jobs and sometimes you have to learn how to pivot and maneuver through that. I think that’s just what it was, just call it what it was: Last year just was internally a shit show.”
This is a new way to put it, right up there with Rudy Gay calling it Basketball Hell.
Last season seemed to have got to DeRozan so much he needed to get away from it all to really understand how much it was weighing on him.
“Sometimes when you are in a relationship, you have to get out of the relationship to realize who you are,” said DeRozan, who admitted he wasn’t himself last year from a mental standpoint and that he could have been better about his approach.
So, his approach this offseason was to re-find himself. After the season ended he took some time to look himself in the mirror and think about the weight he had been carrying due to negativity. A self-described optimist, this weight didn’t allow him to be himself.
From that realization he was dedicated to a reset. He found motivation by working out with his teammates, feeding off the hunger they had going into this season. He saw his new teammate Dennis Schroder win a championship with Germany in the EuroBasket, as well as earning MVP, laying a foundation for positive momentum going into training camp. He found motivation by all of the “bullshit” media writes.
He tried a lot of other new things this summer to push himself mentally. He wouldn’t share all of the details with reporters Monday about what those new things were, but he spent time doing things that would give him a mental edge from a work ethic standpoint, saying he tried a lot of things that “beat me down,” but he got through it.
He now says he’s recharged, rejuvenated, re-motivated and “extremely excited” for the season, describing it as a chance to “make right of the wrongs” that happened.
“I always wanted to come back [to the Kings],” he said. “Not once have I questioned if I would be back or not, I always just wanted to give the fans and this organization what I came here to do and that is to win.”
He understands Scott Perry’s and Doug Christie’s point of view and vision and is ready to move forward, compete and win.
“I knew if we had the opportunity to be under Doug, and see Doug’s vision and have a training camp with Doug, with the players we needed, we can do something. We didn’t have that last year because so much stuff was happening. So, I think this time around, you will see a much different team,” he said.
What do we always say about media day? False hope because every team has the same record, right? Well, normally I would say the same thing about a lot of what DeRozan said here, but honestly if you watch this interview, this really does feel different. It is almost as if the “shit show” of last season might have turned into a true moment of self-reflection for him and unlocked a new mentality as a result.
DeRozan was (and has been) too honest with his opinion on how bad things were last season to not believe him when he says he dug deep and went through a true mentality shift to readjust his mindset and gain his optimism back.
This is sports movie montage stuff here.
What a time to be a Kings fan.